February 11, 2002
Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada

1:25pm. All morning I've been following links from one non-profit organization to another, which started when I searched for "The Better World Society", who I learned about recently when I borrowed a library video from Carl Sagan's Cosmos series.

Education is a path, a course in which the individual makes links, forming a chain of events. You learn about this... which tells you about that... and soon you're on a learning journey... following your bliss into the unknown.

Today I found treasure-- a wealth of resources:

"The Noetic Arts Community Grants Program has been developed to provide funds to support projects which bring artists and communities together to create a transformative or healing experience. Grants support artists who transcend the individual practice and experience of art for the purpose of exploring a deeper connection between creativity and consciousness within a community setting. Grants range from $1,000 to $10,000."

Two other groups to check out are Trees for Life and University for Human Goodness

I'm also looking for places to go with my slide show. Dad has agreed to loan me the mini van from February 20 to March 30... so I gotta find people to help me book gigs. I sent a few emails to Sierra Club chiefs in New Hampshire, but I got a lot more work to do.

Mom and Dad are on a cruise in the Caribbean, so I'm looking after the shop... selling food supplements and free-range farm eggs.

9pm. David, pictured here, gave a slide show presentation to the Saint John Naturalists club about his 12 day raft trip down the Tatshenshini River. It was a free show, and very entertaining, yet everyone there had gray hair, except Tom and I. I wouldn't have known about it if my friend Trudy didn't call to invited me. I want everyone to go to shows like these. The event isn't just about listening to the speaker, it's about meeting neighbors, making connections, building your community. The president of the club works for the museum, and he said they are looking to sponsor shows like mine. Last time I did my show at the museum, renting the theater cost $65, so I was stoked to hear he could hook me up. And Jim, the bird know-it-all, said that the provincial naturalist's organization are working on summer camp projects and they are looking for ideas.

I guess the naturalist club isn't for everyone, but it is for people that I want to be with. I find it disappointing that young people in this city aren't interested in groups like this. Or maybe they just don't know, like I didn't. Maybe the youth that do know aren't interested because the group is currently all old people. One thing is for sure, our culture is divided by ages, and we all lose because of that. Both the young and old can learn a lot from each other.

Spell of the Yukon, by Robert Service.

It's the great, big, broad land way up Yonder,
It's the forest where silence has lease,
It's the beauty that fills me with wonder,
It's the stillness that fills me with peace.